Tag: Elvis Dumervil

Jaguars’ Yasir Abdullah is ready to follow in Elvis Dumervil’s footsteps

Yasir Abdullah is sick of hearing concerns about his height.

Yassir Abdullah was a wildly productive player for the Louisville Cardinals, racking up 31 tackles for loss and 19.5 sacks in his last two collegiate seasons.

Yet he had to wait until the fifth round of the 2023 NFL draft for his name to be called.

The linebacker is plenty athletic with 4.47 speed and a 36.5-inch vertical, but it’s likely his 6’1 height that caused teams to be hesitant about his chances at being an effective NFL pass rusher.

“It matters what you do on the field, no matter what size you are,” Abdullah told reporters in a conference call Saturday. “There’s a lot of guys in this league that have been productive and they’re shorter than me. Like Haason Reddick … who else? There’s a lot of guys. Elvis Dumervil, James Harrison. Legends.

“When people talk about my height, it just gives me extra fuel and stuff to show them I can be this small, I can be this big, and I’ll still dominate.”

Reddick, who measured in at 6’1, 237 pounds at the 2017 combine, earned Pro Bowl honors with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022 after finishing second in the league in sacks with 16.

Dumervil and Harrison — who are 5’11 and 6’0, respectively — combined for 190 career sacks during their NFL careers and are both top 100 on the league’s all-time sack leaderboard.

Abdullah said that he was roommates with Dumervil’s nephew at Louisville and met the five-time Pro Bowler a few times.

“He’s shown me some things when I was in college,” Abdullah said of Dumervil. “He taught me a lot of things and I would compare my game to his game as well.”

Dumervil is a fellow Louisville alumni who won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy after recording a school record 20 sacks in his senior season. Still, he had to wait until the tail-end of the fourth round of the 2006 NFL draft to be picked.

Both Abdullah and Jaguars are hoping that history is repeating itself.

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Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo sees shades of Elvis Dumervil in Mike Danna’s play

#Chiefs DE Mike Danna might not be the prototypical NFL defensive end, but he reminds Steve Spagnuolo of former #Broncos and #Ravens DE Elvis Dumervil. | from @TheJohnDillon

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Few NFL coaches have better input about pass-rushing talent than Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, and his quotes on second-year lineman Mike Danna ahead of Thursday’s practice raised some eyebrows.

Speaking to reporters about Danna’s development, Spagnuolo deferred credit to his staff for the defensive end’s exceptional play in relief of Frank Clark, and he said the former fifth-round pick has all the makings of a great contributor.

“I’ll tell you what, I give credit to the coaches Brendan [Daly] and Terry [Bradden] that work with him. I give credit to Mike [Danna],” He explained when asked if he thinks Danna had taken a step forward in the pass rush, “When you say that I see it coming, it’s hard to tell, but always anticipated that it could. That’s probably a good way to say it. Mike’s one of my favorite guys because it’s chin to the hairline, really smart and everything inside his heart is really good.”

Another question arose about what Spagnuolo saw in Danna when the team drafted him last season. While focusing on the physical attributes he brings to the table, the coordinator made a comparison to a former All-Pro defensive end that seems particularly apt given Danna’s performance in recent weeks.

“It goes back to the work he’s put in,” Spagnuolo said of Danna’s pedigree coming out of Michigan last year, “The prototypical D-end is the 6’4”, 6’5”, long arms and that’s not Mike [Danna], but I worked with Elvis Dumervil when I was with the Baltimore Ravens and Elvis was built pretty much the same way.

“Sometimes [those] guys with the leverage underneath and the long arm rushers that Mike has,” He continued, “Elvis revolutionized [that] in my opinion, I think Mike’s been able to take things a step further in doing some of that stuff. We always say this about pass rush, 20 percent technique, 80 percent want. Mike always has the 80 percent want.”

Dumervil was listed at 5-11 and 250 pounds, but he became a five-time Pro Bowler, a two-time First-Team All-Pro and led the league in sacks in 2009. To be compared to Dumervil is high praise, especially for a player that has only recently come into his own. If Danna can continue to improve his game and build on the momentum that seems to have come easily to him through four games, he could end up being a primary contributor on a defense that desperately needs more playmakers.

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Joe Flacco, Elvis Dumervil gave Derek Wolfe glowing recommendations of Ravens

Former franchise QB Joe Flacco and OLB Elvis Dumervil gave Derek Wolfe a glowing endorsement of the Ravens, helping recruit him to sign.

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The Baltimore Ravens apparently take care of their players in a way few other organizations do. The players currently on the roster have spoken highly of the entire team, from owner Steve Bisciotti all the way down to the coaches and training staff. But you can really tell just how great an organization is by talking to former players and that’s where Baltimore seems to separate themselves from the pack.

Before joining the team this offseason as a free agent, defensive lineman Derek Wolfe talked to two former Ravens players to get the inside scoop on what it’s like to play for Baltimore. Wolfe said he turned to his “mentor” Elvis Dumervil and was told he’d be a perfect fit.

“I talked to Dumervil and Dumervil was like ‘you’re going to love it,'” Wolfe said at his introductory press conference. “Doom was like a mentor for me in my rookie year, like a big brother to me. So anything he says I usually listen to and take it to heart because he’s a very straight forward guy, if he doesn’t like you, he’s going to tell you and he had nothing but good things to say about the organization and he said I’m a perfect fit there.”

But it wasn’t just defensive players that pointed Wolfe to Baltimore but the Ravens’ former franchise quarterback, Joe Flacco.

Flacco was traded to the Denver Broncos last offseason after being supplanted by Lamar Jackson for the final seven games of the 2018 season. In spite of what could be called a tumultuous end to his tenure in Baltimore, Flacco apparently held no ill feelings for the Ravens, telling Wolfe “how great of an organization the Ravens were” and that it was like a “big family.”

It was all enough to get Wolfe very interested in Baltimore. Wolfe said he nearly asked for a trade to the Ravens at the trade deadline last season and kept close tabs on Baltimore this offseason before signing a one-year contract.

Flacco and Dumervil join other former Ravens with glowing recommendations. Safety Tony Jefferson, released this offseason, helped convince Calais Campbell to agree to a contract extension to facilitate his trade from the Jacksonville Jaguars in March. Eric Weddle has repeatedly spoken highly of Baltimore and how they treated him, saying he’d like to retire with the Ravens and potentially join the front office.

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